New Delhi: Star India, the official broadcaster of the Indian Premier League (IPL), on Tuesday said 267 million viewers had logged on to its video-streaming platform, Hotstar, to watch the 12th edition of the T20 tournament in the first three weeks. The league began on 23 March and will conclude on 12 May.
The viewership is significantly higher than last year, when 202 million watched the entire season of the tournament. According to Hotstar, it set a new viewership record of 12.7 million during the Royal Challengers Bengaluru v/s Mumbai Indians match held on 28 March. The platform broke its previous record of 11.2 million concurrent viewers who watched the India v/s New Zealand T20 match. The streaming platform claimed it witnessed a 2x growth in viewership timing over the same period last year.
“The remarkable rate at which the viewership has grown over the years is testament to the audience pull that IPL enjoys. On the back of this, Hotstar continues to break records by raising the bar in reinventing the sporting experience for millions of Indians. These staggering numbers in just three weeks signify the platform’s immense reach and scale, as well as our technological ability to deliver an uninterrupted, immersive cricket watching experience for consumers," according to Varun Narang, chief product officer, Hotstar.
Earlier, the over-the-top (OTT) streaming platform, said it was targeting to achieve a viewership of 300 million for the T20 matches, a 50% jump from last year.
The streaming platform has introduced a live comments feature, which allows viewers to share their thoughts during the live match with friends.
In terms of advertising, Hotstar is offering targeted ads to viewers based on age, gender and demography, helping them get better return on investment (RoI) on their media money. Brands can leverage multiple ad formats, including banner ads, carousel as well as video.
According to media buyers’ estimate, Hotstar is expected to pull ₹400 crore worth of advertising money this IPL season.
